Jerry McGill: a Confederate flag-wearing, self-described “Yankee killer”, the legendary wild man featured in William Eggleston’s Stranded in Canton, and a true moonshine-drinking, pill-popping saint of Memphis rock’n’roll. Decades ago, Jerry spurned a promising music career for a life of crime, robbing banks and running from the FBI, all while touring incognito with legends of country music like Waylon Jennings, and even appearing in movies. After three jail sentences, and while suffering from terminal cancer at the age of 70, Jerry announced his return to recording. Very Extremely Dangerous follows a heavily armed McGill, (out of jail but decidedly not reformed) and his long-suffering fiance Joyce through four states, as he steals whatever’s not nailed down, and charms his way in and out of trouble. As the film’s journey progresses on, director Paul Duane leans a difficult lesson: when you point a camera at a man who will do anything for notoriety, how responsible are you when he goes too far? Filmmakers Robert Gordon and Paul Duane in person, Q&A moderated by music critic Chris Morris!
Dir. Paul Duane, 2012, digital presentation, 85 min.